Shloka 46
Kṣemadarśa–Kālakavṛkṣīya Saṃvāda: Counsel on Impermanence, Non-attachment, and Composure in Dispossession
(अन्यत्रोपनता हापत् पुरुषं तोषयत्युत । तेन शान्तिं न लभते नाहमेवेति कारणात् ।।
anyatropanatā hāpat puruṣaṃ toṣayaty uta | tena śāntiṃ na labhate nāham eveti kāraṇāt || anyeṣām api naśyanti suhṛdaś ca dhanāni ca | paśya buddhyā manuṣyāṇāṃ rājan āpadam ātmanaḥ ||
Bhishma said: ‘A calamity that has fallen upon someone else can even give a foolish man a kind of satisfaction—because he thinks, “I am not the one in that distress.” Yet for that very reason—this sense of separation and comparison—he never attains peace. O King, even for others their wealth and their dear friends are destroyed; therefore, reflect with clear understanding and see that your own adversity is of the same nature as that of other human beings.’
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Taking comfort in another’s misfortune (‘it is not happening to me’) is a mark of delusion and becomes an obstacle to peace. True calm arises from discernment that adversity is a common human condition, which fosters humility and compassion rather than comparison.
In the Shanti Parva instruction, Bhishma counsels the grieving king (Yudhishthira) to reflect wisely on suffering: others too lose wealth and loved ones, so one should view one’s own calamity as part of the shared lot of humanity and thereby steady the mind.